Category Archives: Marketing Ideas

6 Tips for Managing Sales With Email Tracking Software

Email Tracking SoftwareOver the years, business documentation has gone from paper to email; from cabinets and shelves to the cloud. It’s been a massive revolution that has brought sweeping changes to the way we run our businesses. When we add smartphones to the equation, things change even further. Mobile-friendly websites are the order of the day.

Smartphones have brought an avalanche of apps that can be downloaded. When they relate to business, they enable people to view almost everything from their phones. This can be accessed virtually anywhere, and all we need is an internet connection. The cloud makes the data available day or night.

Email tracking software is something that is gathering pace in the business world. There are also benefits of putting it alongside CRMs (Customer Relationship Management systems). Let’s discuss six tips for anyone using email tracking software.

1.  View the Interactions

Fortunately, businesses aren’t left to their own devices when they choose to purchase email tracking software. The technicians at CirrusInsight.com say companies are actively searching for websites that help with the installation process. They want articles covering such topics as reinstalling the latest versions of Outlook or uninstalling from Office 365.

Just as businesses have much to learn from viewing their rivals, they have much to learn from reading email tracking data. They need to consider whether their marketing emails have been worded correctly, personalized sufficiently, and sent to the right people.

Businesses can use the software to find out if the potential customer reads the email, and if so how many times. Was an attachment or a URL link included? The tracking software can advise if they were accessed too.

2.  Identify the Customers’ Needs

All the above information will provide clues as to who is interested (and in what) and who isn’t.  Email tracking software is able to display the entire communication between a company and its customer, in date order. This will help provide a very full picture of the engagement process from start to finish.

3.  Engage on Their Terms

Any incorrect email addresses will have automatically been removed from the address list by the software. It may be that the goods or services a company offers needs to be amended to reflect the results of the tracking data. This will help with future communications, sales, and marketing.

4.  Put Follow Up in Place

It’s no longer a case of simply sending an email, and sitting and waiting. Businesses can use their software to schedule follow up emails, calls, or appointments. It may be that automated follow up emails are all that is needed, in which case the software will do the job. Some software can be used to personalize different emails for different people, too.

5.  Connect to a CRM System

This is a real case of synergy because tracking software becomes even more powerful when this occurs. Some software can feed into such CRM systems as Salesforce (and there are alternatives available too). Emails can be sent using the CRM – even on a mass basis.

When historical emails have been incorporated into the CRM system, everyone can have access to them. CRM systems can be costly because of what they do, but there are demo versions available online. They will have certain functions disabled. There are free versions that may be suitable for small businesses, but if there are many employees the full-blown system may be desirable.

6.  Look at Sales Stats and Forecasts

The (sales) CRM system may contain details of customer invoices and payments. There will be details of what was sent and when. Were there any items returned, or refunds requested and given? This should all show here.

Many sales departments feature daily boards that show who sold what and how many. This can help with staff motivation, and the stats can be fed into the annual review process. Modern CRM systems can display this information instantly.

CRM systems can also anticipate the future based on the past. The data can contribute towards business plans and identify expected demand. The areas where more resources or training is needed can also be revealed and acted upon.

This turns the process full circle because future emails can be sent that reflect the CRM data. Customer contact information will be in a place that can be easily amended where required. In turn, the emails can be tracked and reviewed as before.

When businesses harness technology to their daily processes, they can become more efficient and professional. It is easier to interpret stats and information when it is automatically produced for you. Lessons can be learned and changes are made, in order to secure future success. Any company that falls behind and resists what technology has to offer may put itself and its future at risk.

Video Marketing Ideas You Should Consider To Improve Sales

Video Marketing

Running a business entails looking for the best office space for your team, hiring the right talent to support your venture, and creating processes for smooth operations. Another crucial thing that you should be doing is developing marketing strategies to improve sales.

One excellent tool for your marketing strategy is video marketing. Many consumers prefer watching videos to get information, rather than reading blocks of text on a blog. It allows you to maximize each second to provide your target audience with knowledge about your brand as well as products and services.

You can find lots of small business video marketing study ideas online. You’re definitely missing out on conversions if you haven’t started creating videos for your company.

Here are some video marketing ideas that you should consider to improve sales:

  1. Establish A Consistent Style And Design

Aside from delivering information to your consumers in an easily digestible form, videos are also valuable for branding. Have you ever stumbled across a viral video on social media and thought that it looked like it was created by a particular company? Then, upon checking the original account that posted it, you find that it really came from that business.

You must establish a consistent style and design for all your videos so that, when people watch it online, they can immediately associate the scenes and graphics with your brand. Do this consistently, and you won’t even have to introduce your company anymore later on because people will already know you created the video based on its aesthetics.

This doesn’t mean, though, that all your content should look the same since that’d be boring. You can play with different elements, like colors, animations, and music. Just make sure that you figure out the tone that you want to be linked to your brand.

  1. Guide Your Customers Using Videos

There are lots of different formats that you can use for your video marketing content. Each type has a specific purpose. You should know what you want to achieve through this strategy so that you can create the best video using the right format for your target audience.

These are the different types of videos you can make:

  • Brand Videos – Introduce your business to potential customers with brand videos. This can include the history of your company as well as your advocacy. You can even give customers a virtual tour of your office space.
  • Product Or Service Clips – Create videos for each of your products and services to provide comprehensive information to your target audience. Show them the different angles of the merchandise and disclose their dimensions, too.
  • How-Tos – Tutorial videos are valuable in teaching your customers how to use your products properly. You don’t even need to advertise your merchandise blatantly in these videos. For instance, if you’re selling sprinklers, you can make a video on how to create a lush garden and incorporate your product in one of the items in the content.
  • FAQs – This type may include your payment methods and shipping policies. Basically, they’re your website’s FAQs in video format. Animation is the ideal style to use for this type of content.
  • Testimonials – Customer reviews are an excellent way to build your brand. Producing them in video form can make the testimonial seem more authentic. Ask your loyal customers for their feedback and give them rewards for sending in their videos.
  1. Publish Your Content On Various Platforms

Your website is the primary platform where you should upload your video content. However, unless your search engine optimization (SEO) is perfect, you may be unable to reach your target audience through your domain.

Create official accounts on social media and publish the same set of videos there. YouTube, which is deemed as the top video search engine, also allows you to reach consumers worldwide.

Make sure you establish brand continuity on all the online platforms you’re using. Embed YouTube videos into your company blog for cross-medium content.

  1. Take Advantage Of Live Videos

Live videos are another format that allows you to build a real-time connection with potential customers. These are ideal for showing behind-the-scenes occurrences and covering your events. You can even hype up new products with a live launch to boost interest in them.

Some tips when doing live videos:

  • Promote, Promote, Promote – Constant promotion is the key to ensuring that your customers tune in to your stream. Think of live videos as an event rather than a post that you publish online. Clarify the date and time of your broadcast so that loyal subscribers can watch your event or product launch.
  • Have An Outline – Because live videos are more spontaneous, you should have an outline of the program’s flow. Without this, the stream may drag on, and you’ll risk losing the interest of those who are watching.
  • Prepare The Logistics – Think about how you’ll shoot the video, who will host it, and what products or services you’ll be highlighting. You have to put a lot of thought into these factors to show customers that your business is serious about providing solutions to their needs.
  • Choose the Right Time – Make sure that the schedule you choose for your live video works with your consumers. If your target audience is young professionals, you should broadcast after work hours when they are available to watch throughout the entire event.
  • Provide Context Throughout – One thing you must remember with live videos is that people can join and leave any time. Aside from introducing your brand at the start of the stream, you should let people know what’s happening in the middle of the broadcast to let them know what the live video is about.
  1. Optimize Your Videos For Search Engines

Similar to writing a blog post, you should incorporate the right keywords into your video’s tags and descriptions. This way, you’re informing search engines and human customers about what a particular content is all about.

Conclusion

Video marketing is an excellent way to boost sales because videos are the favorite medium of today’s consumers. Check these ideas and see how you can use them for your brand to improve conversions and expand your customer base.

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